CCTV lost lawsuit on trademark "星光大道"

"星光大道" (Walk of Fame) as an entertainment show on CCTV-3 is widely known by audiences across China. CCTV found that one Film & TV production company registered "星光大道" as their trademark and then filed an administrative lawsuit against the Trademark Appeal Board of the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, aiming to get the trademark back.

Beijing Municipal No.1 Intermediate People's Court rejected CCTV's appeal on the grounds that the company registered the trademark before the show was on the screen.

In July 2003, Beijing Xingguangdadao Film & TV Production Co., Ltd. filed an application for the trademark "星光大道". After the trademark was preliminarily approved, CCTV filed an opposition against the trademark. After investigation, the Trademark Appeal Board dismissed the objection. CCTV did not accept the decision and applied for reconsideration which was later rejected again. Eventually, CCTV brought the Board to court.

During the trial, the defendant (the Board) argued that although CCTV claimed that it had decided to name one of its program sector "星光大道" before the trademark was registered by the company, it did not provide any relevant evidence to prove that. Available evidence indicated that the show was launched in 2004, while the Film & TV production company started to organize a show called "星光大道" contest in 2003. Therefore, it was difficult to identify that the trademark registration application had any subjective malicious purpose. Finally, the court rendered its sentence that the prior art claimed by CCTV did not hold water.